Page 44 of Anchor

I scan around the diner through the window before I lock eyes with my son. He gives me a nod, looking exactly like his father at that moment despite having my eye color. He quickly says bye to his friends, who all wave at me.

I wave back then hide just past the window, not willing to get into crap with Ginger today, but my hopes are dashed when I hear, “Oh look, it’s Anchor's stalker….”

Seriously, she really needs to get a new line, and if anyone is a stalker, it’s her, I mean, the woman became a clubwhore just to be close to him….

I watch as Micha walks past her and me, knowing not to be around this woman, before he walks into the alleyway, just out of sight, and I turn back to Ginger and her posse.

“Oh look, it’s the walking, talking STD, who can’t get herself a patched brother,” I reply, and her posse actually laughs, makingGinger growl. I raise a brow at her, daring her to try something, but instead, she stomps her high-heeled foot like a toddler and calls for a taxi before shouting, “Girls, let’s go, the brothers will be out of church soon, and I want me some Anchor dick!”

The three women smile at me before following Ginger, and climbing into the cab with her, and I roll my eyes at her words, which don’t even hit below the belt; I know they are lies.

Wait….

Pride fills me that my first thought was to roll my eyes instead of suffocating in uncertainty, and something deep inside settles.

I’m beginning to trust him….

Damn.

Shaking my head, I turn and say, “Come on, bud,” and Micha walks out of his hiding place, his nose scrunched up.

“That woman is nasty, Mom,” he says, and I wrap my arm around his shoulders while placing my hand on my tiny bump that isn’t yet visible under my clothes. I look both ways on the road before crossing.

“I know; it’s why I tell you not to even look at when you see her. I don’t want her knowing your dad is…your dad,” I tell him, unwilling to lie.

“She wants my dad, doesn’t she?” he confirms, angry, and I hum in agreement.

“She does, but she’s not getting him because your dad belongs to me, just like I belong to him. We needed time apart, and now we’re coming back together again.”

Micha grins wide with excitement while I just hope it works out—for all our sake.

It’s not just my heart that will break if Trav and I don’t work out.

Shouting echoes around us, and I look to my right to see a car speeding up on the wrong side of the road; the man behind the wheel is holding his chest as he loses control of his car, and I know I only have a split second to save Micha, knowing I can’t save myself.

I don’t think; instead, I act, and I shove Micha hard into the crowd, and watch as a guy grabs hold of him and pulls him out of the way, just as the hood of a sedan smashes into my legs. I scream at the impact, my arm going around my stomach to protect the baby, and panic hits.

“Mommy!” I hear Micha shout as I roll over the roof of the car and off the trunk of the vehicle, before the front of my body slams into the concrete. My head slams against the ground…and the world disappears into nothing.

17

Anchor

“Are we doing church, or are you men just going to bitch?” I grumble at the brothers around the table, impatient to see my wife.

We’ve been in church for twenty minutes already, and we haven’t even discussed the financials yet, let alone the fun run; the brothers are too busy being nosy bitches.

“We just want to know who you were fucking in your room at Huntsmen Arts,” Pitbull says as he leans back in his chair.

“Yeah,” Cannon agrees, “Art is being a pain in the ass because he believes you are lying to him, and we’re sick of it, so just tell us who you fucked, and we can move on.”

I side-eye Steal to see him trying to hold in his laugh while Acid and Piston look everywhere but at Pitbull, Cannon, and Shotgun.

Tired of all the bullshit, I sigh and admit, “I was fucking my wife….”

The brothers laugh like I just told him the funniest joke as Cannon says, “Yeah, right, nice one,” but his grin disappears when he sees I’m not laughing, fuck, I’m not evening smiling.

“No…” Pitbull says in denial, his eyes going to my left hand that I have placed on the table, the tatted black ring around my ring finger in sight, the date Heaven and I got married just above it.

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